The first of two tournaments on the current US tour of Sweden provided Randon Miranda (59 kg, NYAC/OTS) with his first international gold medal of the season, but he wasn’t alone in doing damage. “Big” Nick Boykin (130 kg, Sunkist) earned one of his biggest wins to date to make the finals and Benji Peak (59 kg, NMU/OTS) found himself on the podium for the second time in three weeks.

All eyes were on Miranda this Saturday, and he bounced back from his finals loss at the U23 World Team Trials earlier this month with a statement-making performance he’ll likely remember down the road.

Miranda began his march to the finals with back-to-back tech fall victories over Linus Markusson (SWE) and OTS teammate Jon Massey before being forced to grit out a tight 4-2 decision over Christoffer Svensson (SWE). That left him one win away and just like his first two bouts, he was in control throughout. Versus tough Swede and familiar face Anton Rosen, Miranda held a 4-1 lead going into the second period before netting another point via step-out and two more when he countered a Rosen throw attempt at the edge. With the 7-1 win and a gold medal in his first overseas event of the fresh campaign, Miranda was upbeat afterwards.

“Awesome tournament,” Miranda said. “I stopped hesitating and when I got to my positions, I just let it fly. I’m trying to prove a point since the Worlds.”

Despite being known domestically for his tremendous upside, Boykin is still in the process of accumulating valuable foreign mat time, though he sure made some progress today. After headlocking past NMU’s Marc Leon via fall, Boykin battled it out with Anton Eurén (SWE), an up-and-coming Senior who has multiple international medals to his name. Boykin stuck to his guns and when the opportunity arose, he went for it by flashing the next-level explosiveness he has to offer with a clutch five to emerge 7-2. Kalle Persson (SWE) ended the American’s bid for a gold on the heels of an 11-0 tech, giving Boykin a hard-earned silver in his first European Senior tournament.

Thus far, Benji Peak (59 kg, NMU/OTS) is two-for-two during his prolonged stay in Scandinavia. Two weeks ago in Denmark, Peak put together a dramatic last-second comeback to take bronze at the Bear Cup. There wasn’t the same kind of suspense this time around, but he’ll take the result.

Peak started off with a brisk tech over NMU stablemate Erik Spence but ran into trouble in the next round againstRosen, who came away with a 10-2 tech. The Wisconsinite regrouped in the next round versus US Olympic Training Center prospect Luis Hernandez by piling it on for a 13-3 technical fall. For bronze, Peak had to face the very capable Svensson, who had endured a close loss to Miranda earlier.

Peak came out the aggressor, searching for high dives and anything he else he could latch his long arms around, but it was Svensson who scored first when he slipped out of a Peak headlock attempt. Once back on their feet, it seemed like an eventuality Peak would get his lock and he did. After zipping in on a high dive, the NMU wrestler bodied Svensson off the edge for four and a 5-2 advantage. He wasn’t done. Early in the second, Peak whipped a headlock and Svensson reversed to make the score 7-3. Then with time on his side and the second period winding down, Peak dumped Svensson straight to his back for the match-winning points.

All in all, it was a successful way to kick off the trip for Team USA, which won the event outright as Swedish clubs BK Pan andHBK Bergania finished second and third, respectively. According to Combat WC founder and assistant US coach on this tour, Lucas Steldt, there was a lot of enthusiasm to take away from today’s action.

“Miranda grinded out wins, Benji had some bombs, and Boykin had a big five from a high dive, and that is amazing for a heavyweight,” Steldt said later. “And there were also a lot of great performances just shy of placing.”

Team USA at the 2017 Klippan Cup. (Photo: Lucas Steldt)

Notes:

2017 Fargo champ Peyton Robb (71 kg, Minnesota Storm) came up just short with a fourth-place finish, but it’s how he wrestled that counts. Robb put forth an impressive effort all day long and in the bronze medal bout, scored a whopping 17 points only to lose 18-17 to Lukas Ahlgren (SWE), who has competed and trained in the US on occasion.